Senin, 09 Mei 2011

2011 European Junior Cup: Monza Results

KNC Cikarang - The second round of the 2011 European Junior Cup took place under clear blue skies and high temperatures at Italy’s legendary Monza circuit this weekend, and joined the other World Superbike championship races in producing a spectacular battle for the passionate crowd.

From the start, pole position setter Matt Davies pushed hard to establish a 2 second lead in the first flying lap. However Assen winner - Germany’s Tom Busch, was determined to stick with the young Australian and broke from the pack in a bid to chase him down.Mid point of the race saw seven riders battling to claim 3rd position, riding wheel to wheel aboard their identical Kawasaki Ninja 250 R's in a classic Monza slipstream race. South Africa’s Themba Khumalo was unlucky to run wide at the Ascari chicane whilst Spain’s Miguel Aranda set the fastest lap of the race but could not find a way through the pack. Brandon Kyee, the sole USA rider in the series, proved he has adapted quickly to the larger bike and produced the pass of the day as he rode clean around the outside into Ascari.

With two laps to go Busch had closed the gap to Davies. But the young Australian showed great race craft to defend his position and despite Busch’s best efforts the last lap battle finally came down to a run for the line through the fast Parabolica curve. A normal slide from Davies saw him go slightly wide and Busch seized his chance, turning tighter in an effort to pass the current British 125 championship leader. Both riders were neck and neck on the final charge to the flag, but in the end Davies was able to take the win by 0.046 seconds from the German rider.

The chase for third place was no less intense heading into the last turn, with the seven rider group still separated by only one second. In the end South Africa’s Sylvano De Aguiar carried the best speed to take his first podium ahead of fellow countryman Khumalo and California’s Kyee.